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Magnus Carlsen

Magnus Carlsen was “calm and confident” going into the tiebreak session on Wednesday, in which he retained his world title. The day after his victory in New York, Carlsen sat down with a small number of media to answer some questions about the match.

On Thursday morning, about ten journalists (one representing Chess.com!) met with Carlsen on the first floor of the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Battery Park, Manhattan. After just 14 minutes, the champ had to leave for another (rather significant) interview elsewhere, but he still shared quite a few interesting thoughts about the match.

Carlsen admitted that psychology is his weakest point at the moment. “Obviously my playing strength drops quite a bit when everything is not going according to plan. I think maybe I’ll have to work on that more seriously in the future.”

After his only loss in the match, the Norwegian initially waited for his opponent to arrive but then left the press conference before it started. About this episode, he said: “It’s not my proudest moment, but I was just devastated. I couldn’t sit there.”

Below is a video with highlights of the “interview,” and below the video, you’ll find the full transcript.